


An Unexpected Visitor

by afteriwake



Series: And Now I'm Learning You [9]
Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:23:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2162199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly is at work when Sherlock arrives at the morgue, bleeding profusely and near death. Panicking, she calls the Doctor and tries to get him and her other friends to help, but the worst happens and Sherlock dies. However thanks to something Khan has been working on that doesn't stay the case for long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> So yes, Sherlock dies, but as we saw in "Star Trek Into Darkness" a serum from Khan's blood can bring someone back from the dead. So I get to cheat death. I love doing that...

Life had continued on, and things were going well. No, things were going better than just well, Molly had realized. Things were going brilliantly. For once she was happy, truly happy. She had someone in her life she loved very much who loved her back, she had good friends and she actually had a life outside of work that fulfilled her. She was incredibly content with things, even with the remaining worries that there were going to be problems in the future until Sherlock was finished and could come home. She tried her best not to think about all those worries too much for fear of having panic attacks. But when she was on her own sometimes they would creep to the forefront.

It was now the 23rd of January and she was hard at work trying to finish her tasks at work. Her shift was almost over and it had been a long day filled with six autopsies, each presenting their own problems, and then there were the incessant calls from DIs wanting their results faster than other. As it stood she had one last report to write and then she was done for the day. It was almost time for her to leave, and the quicker she got it done the better. She was nearly finished when she heard the doors open. “If it's a delivery leave the body out there and come into the office with the paperwork,” she said loudly.

“It's not that,” she heard a familiar voice say in a slightly strained voice. She got up out of the chair quickly. She wasn't sure at this point who she was going to find out there, Khan or Sherlock, but she was worried that it was not going to be a welcome sight in either case. When she stepped out of her office and saw it was Sherlock and he was slumped against the refrigeration unit her eyes widened. “I've been hurt.”

“What are you doing back in London?” she asked, moving over towards him. She noticed he had changed his appearance slightly and now he looked even more like Khan. “And what happened?”

“Mycroft discovered someone was going to attempt to kidnap you. I stopped them, but I didn't come through unscathed. I got shot.”

“How did you get here?” she asked, moving next to him and pulling him away from the refrigeration unit. She could see blood where he'd been leaning on it.

“It happened in an alley near here. I managed to appear as though I was uninjured until I got down here to the basement. Since Khan spends time in the lab I used to occupy and it's fairly well known the two of you live together no one batted an eyelash at me coming here.” He faltered slightly as they moved. “I'm badly injured and I didn't know where else to go. I can't go to a hospital as a proper patient without questions being raised as to how I got injured, not to mention the fact that I'm not dead.”

“We need to see just how bad it is,” she replied. “And I need to call Rory and Leonard. They have the expertise to take care of you. I mean, I can stitch you up but I'm a pathologist, not a doctor or nurse.”

She peeled his coat back and if it was at all possible her eyes got wider as she saw the large red bloodstain on his clothing. “I've lost a lot of blood,” he said.

“Did you get shot more than once?” she asked.

“Twice. There were two of them, and while I have better aim apparently I'm slower.” She looked up at him and saw he looked pale. “I take it it looks bad.”

“I'm honestly surprised you're still conscious,” she replied. “I need you to sit down and stay awake. I'm going to call the Doctor first, see if he can get the TARDIS inside here, and then I'm taking you to my home and we're going to get you patched up.”

He was quiet, though he nodded weakly. “Molly, if they can't--”

She cut him off. “If you finish that sentence I will never forgive you, Sherlock. You're going to be just fine. You have to be.” She maneuvered him to a chair and then dashed into her office for her mobile. She pulled up the Doctor's number first. Surprisingly he answered on the first ring. “Can you get the TARDIS into my morgue?” she asked before he said anything.

“I think I can, yes. It will be a tight fit, though. Why?”

“Sherlock's here and he's been shot and I need to get him help. I need Leonard and Rory to be brought here or taken to my home or _something_. Sherlock's lost a lot of blood and I'm scared he's...” She trailed off. “I just need you to hurry.”

“I'll be there in a few minutes. I have both of them with me right now, actually, as well as the others. Well, everyone other than Khan. He's at your home still, I imagine.”

“All right,” she said. She hung up and went back out to the other room. She rushed over to Sherlock, who was nearly motionless. “If you die on me, Sherlock, I'll find a way to resurrect you and then I'll kill you all over again.”

“I'll do my best to stay alive,” he said weakly. “Molly, I need to tell you something.”

“You can tell me later,” she replied.

“No, I need to tell you now. I care about you. You are a good friend. And if I don't make it you need to promise me you will be happy. That you will have the best possible life you can have.”

“You're going to be just fine, and that will make me even happier,” she said, feeling a lump in her throat. He honestly thought he was going to die. She was terrified he was going to give up and do just that, too. “Don't you dare give up on me, Sherlock. I need you to be all right.”

He nodded but said nothing. Moments later she could see the TARDIS materializing in front of them. As soon as it was completely there the doors opened and McCoy and Rory came rushing out. McCoy got to them first and he took one look at Sherlock and grimaced. “Rory, do you know where they keep the blood supply?”

“Yeah. Second floor. What do you need me to get?”

“What's your blood type?” he asked Sherlock, but Sherlock didn't respond. Then he turned to Molly and Rory. “Do either of you know what his blood type is?” Both of them shook their heads. “Get me O negative, then.”

“On it,” Rory said with a nod, going around the TARDIS and out the doors to the morgue.

“You need to get him talking again,” McCoy said to Molly. “Do you have a sterilized table I can get him onto? And equipment I can use?”

“The one on the left,” she said with a nod as she went to go get her other set of scalpels and equipment from her supply table. “I used the one on the right earlier today.”

“Jim! Help me move him,” McCoy said. Kirk came over and between them they got Sherlock's coat off. McCoy's grimace got deeper when he saw the bloodstain on the shirt. Then the two men got Sherlock onto the table as Molly brought over what she had. “Damn it, I wish I had my regular equipment,” he muttered.

“Can you save him?” Molly asked.

“I'll do my best,” he replied, pulling out the scissors and beginning to cut his shirt off. Then he looked down at Sherlock. “You need to start talking.”

“You must be one of the other people from Khan's universe,” he said, his voice just barely louder than a whisper. It looked as though it was taking great effort to speak.

“I am. The name's Leonard McCoy. Jim over there calls me Bones. Hopefully when this is over you can call me miracle worker.” He finished cutting Sherlock's shirt open. “This isn't good,” he replied quietly when he was done.

“What is it?” she replied. 

“He's losing too much blood,” McCoy said. “I need to get the bullets out and then stop the bleeding. I don't know if I can fix this in time.”

“You _have_ to,” Molly said adamantly.

He was quiet for a moment. “There are some vials in the lab Khan uses, in the refrigerator. He told me he was working on a serum from his blood. Call him on the way up there but find out if it's serum or just his blood. I'll do what I can for Sherlock.”

“All right,” she said. She pulled her mobile out of her pocket as she made her way around the TARDIS. She pulled up Khan's contact quickly and hit send. It rang twice and once again she spoke up before the person she called said anything. “Sherlock's dying. Leonard said something about a serum from your blood. Did you make it?”

“There is one vial in the refrigerator in my lab,” he replied. “The lone one in the blue tray.”

“I'm going to get it,” she replied.

“What happened?” he asked as she made her way to the lift.

“He said someone was going to try and kidnap me. He stopped them, but he got shot twice and he's lost so much blood and he's still bleeding.” She felt the lump in her throat grow. “I can't lose him, Khan.”

“Even if he does die, inject him with the serum anyway. I hypothesized it could bring someone back to life.” He paused. “Do you need me there?”

“No, it's best if you stay where you are. I think so far everyone assumes Sherlock is you.”

“That's helpful.” He was quiet for a moment. “Did he say anything about the attempt?”

“No, just that Mycroft alerted him and he took care of it.”

“I think Mycroft and I are due for a chat,” he said darkly. “If there was a threat to you I should have been informed. If I'd been shot this would be an entirely different situation right now and no one would be worrying that I would die.”

She got to the lift and pressed the button. She knew it was probably on the second floor, so it was just a matter of it coming back down and then her getting to the third floor and the lab. “He told me to be happy. He said if he didn't make it I needed to be happy.”

“He'll be able to see just how happy you are himself if this works,” Khan replied in a more gentle tone than he usually used. “And I am fairly sure it will.”

“I hope you're right.”

“Get the vial and inject its contents into him as soon as you can. If he's still alive it can undo serious damage as long as you get the bullets out. But he will need time to rest and recover.”

“I'm bringing him home with me if this works,” she replied as the lift doors opened.

“Guest bedroom or sofa?” he asked.

“Guest bedroom. You aren't using it and I'm not giving up my bedroom again.” She stepped inside and hit the button for the third floor. She was lucky this was a service lift, because those were not used very often by people in the hospital unless they were delivering bodies to her. “I have to keep thinking he'll pull through.”

“He is quite important to you,” Khan said quietly as the doors to her lift shut.

“We've talked, since he showed up with the Doctor. Not often, but enough for me to realize he feels this is too large a task, that there's too much to take care of, too many threads of this web to snip. And now with this I'm terrified he's just going to give up.”

“He cares for you. If you insist he hold on he probably will just because you want him to.”

She felt a tear slip down her cheek. She couldn't afford to fall apart, but she couldn't help it. “I'm sorry I'm unloading this on you”

“I am your...boyfriend,” he said. “You're supposed to lean on me in times like this.”

Despite everything she felt a faint smile cross her face. “You hate that term.”

“I am more than simply your lover,” he replied. “We are in a relationship that is more than just shagging on a frequent basis. You are in love with me, remember? And I've admitted I love you as well, which I never would have expected to. Not because of you but because I've never allowed myself to feel that way about anyone before. If I have to use the term boyfriend to describe what we have then I just have to do that, even if I think it's juvenile and not exactly close to describing the type of relationship we have.”

“And what type of relationship do we have?”

“We both care for each other, we trust and appreciate each other, and we would do anything for the other. You chose to love me despite my past and I chose you over going home. We have taken a risk with each other and it's paid off in the end. We have the type of relationship where I can admit I don't know what I would do if I lost you, and I don't ever want to find out.”

“I don't want to find out either.” The lift was on the second floor now and the doors opened. Rory stood there with three blood bags. “Did you have any trouble?”

He shook his head. “Blood is one of the easiest things to filch from a hospital.” He held up some tubing and Molly saw he'd grabbed a pole. “No one gave me a second look. I was already supposed to be coming into work today but the Doctor just had to show all of us a new planet he had discovered so I was already in my scrubs when he got your call. Where are you headed?”

“Sherlock's old lab. Khan's lab now, I suppose. There's a vial of a serum that can save him.”

“That bad?” Rory asked quietly.

“He's dying, Rory.” Rory reached over and held onto her hand with his free one. She gripped it tightly and then after a few minutes she pulled away and put the phone back to her ear as the lift opened to the third floor. “I'm sorry,” she said to Khan.

“You are allowed to be emotional over this,” he said quietly. “Rory and I and everyone else would think no less of you.”

“I know.” She made her way to the lab and then to the refrigerator, opening it as Rory's mobile rang behind her. “Lone tube in blue tray, correct?”

“Yes. It is still very concentrated. I hadn't gotten the chance to dilute it to split it for other experiments I wanted to run.”

“Then that will be better.” She turned around and looked at the door. Rory was standing there, mobile in his hand and his head hung. “Oh, God,” she whispered. “No...”

“He's dead,” Rory replied. “He bled out. Leonard got the bullets out but he couldn't find out where he was bleeding from so he wasn't able to stop it in time. I'm sorry.”

She handed him the vial, her hands shaky. “Inject this into him.”

“But he's dead.”

“It might still help,” she said insistently. “Just take it down to them and have them inject it into him. Please.”

“All right,” Rory said. He grasped the vial tightly and turned around, leaving the lab.

Molly moved over to the counter and sank down on one of the stools. For a few minutes she looked at her mobile, which she had set down on the counter, and then she picked it up again. “What are the chances it won't work?” she asked Khan.

“Do you really want to hear this right now?” he asked after a moment's hesitation.

“Yes. I need to know.”

“I hadn't gotten to run any actual experiments of that nature,” he replied. “McCoy and I had talked about trying to find a necrotic host to test the theory on. If we were home we would have used a small alien known as a Tribble, but a comparable host in this place would be something like a cat or a small dog. It is harder to acquire one of those here, even at a hospital such as yours. But theoretically, if the serum can heal grievous injuries and it's injected soon enough after death it could conceivably reverse the process. But it would have to be done within a half hour at most if there is a chance to bring them back without serious damage.”

“It's a quick trip down to the morgue,” she replied.

“If McCoy removed the bullets the serum can fix any internal damage without permanent injury to Sherlock if this works. I just don't know if it will work.”

“I suppose we just have to wait, then. How long do you think it will take?”

“If it's able to bring him back, not very long. I ran one experiment before this to heal considerable damage done to someone one of my crew...” He trailed off. “That's not important. The healing process started immediately, but it still took time. The person was in a comatose state and it took a week for them to wake up from it.”

“Then I should go back down there,” she said, standing up.

“If it doesn't work, will you be all right?” he asked.

“I honestly don't know,” she replied. “If it doesn't work then he died trying to save me and I don't know how well I can live with that.”

“He shouldn't have been in that position in the first place,” he replied. “You, Mycroft, Amelia and Rory know about the genetic modifications done to me. Mycroft has seen me with a bullet wound in my shoulder and he knew within a day I was perfectly fine. I don't know whether it was Mycroft or Sherlock's bright idea for Sherlock to be the one to take care of the threat but it was a monumentally idiotic decision on their parts no matter who suggested it.”

“I don't know who came up with the plan,” she said as she made her way towards the lift. “But what if he does come back? I mean, what if something like this happens again and we aren't there to do this the next time?”

Khan was quiet for a few moments. “I do not relish the idea of doing this, and I am not sure I want to even suggest it, but what if I take his place? What if I finish doing what he is doing to remove the threat Moriarty's network holds and he remains hidden here in London?”

“Would you even know where to start, or who to go after?” she asked.

“Mycroft and Sherlock could assist. He's going to need time to recover, and once he awakens I can have him tell me everything he knows. As Mycroft has stated before, I am very similar to Sherlock in more than just appearance. The major differences are it is nearly impossible to kill me and I can deal quite a bit more damage to people when I decide to fight back.”

She thought back to the man who had tried to kill them both months earlier, to how Khan had casually remarked the man would never walk properly again. He had done that with his bare fists and with a bullet in his shoulder. “You can't kill everyone involved in this,” she replied as she got to the lift and pressed the button.

“No, but I can severely injure them and make it impossible for them to continue what they are doing,” he replied. “My one worry is that someone else will make a play to hurt you and I won't be able to protect you.”

“I wish Moriarty had never gotten a fascination with Sherlock,” she said with a sigh. “Then this wouldn't even be an issue.”

“I feel exactly the same way,” he said. “Do you want me to do this? I won't make the suggestion to Mycroft if you want me to stay.”

She thought about it for a bit. She would miss him terribly, she could already tell. And she would worry because even if he was nearly impossible to kill he could still be killed. But today had shown there were still people willing to take drastic measures to keep Sherlock from finishing what he was doing. She wouldn't really feel safe until the network was in tatters, and she knew Khan had a much better chance of coming out of this endeavour alive than Sherlock did. As the lift doors opened she sighed. “Make the suggestion.”

“Then I will call him as soon as I end our call.” He paused for a moment. “It will be at least some time until I have to go, and with the Doctor's help I can do it more quickly than even Sherlock anticipated. We won't need to be separated for long.”

“All right,” she replied, pressing the button for the basement and watching the doors slide closed. She moved to the back of the lift and leaned against it. “You have to promise to call me as often as you can. If I can join you somewhere for a day or so you have to let me do that. And you have to promise me you'll come home. When all this is over you'll come home and we'll try our best to go back to how things were.”

“I can make all those promises,” he replied. “I ask for a promise from you, though.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Promise every time we talk you will tell me you love me, that you will remind me of why I am doing this. Because I am doing this for you, to keep you safe. I'm not doing this for anyone else.”

She smiled slightly, despite the dire situation. “I'll tell you multiple times, I promise.”

“Good. I should let you go. The sooner I talk to Mycroft the sooner we can all make plans.”

“All right. I'll text you when I know what's going on with Sherlock.”

“I'll be waiting. I'll see you at home when all of this is done.”

“I'll be there,” she replied. He hung up first and she pocketed her mobile before shutting her eyes and leaning her head back. If it didn't work, if she lost Sherlock, she didn't know what she would do. She would feel so guilty, especially when it came out he'd been alive and she knew and he'd died trying to save her. She would probably never fully be able to move past it. After what seemed to take an eternity the lift doors opened to the basement. She made her way into the morgue, but the TARDIS blocked her view of what was going on. She walked around it and saw everyone except McCoy looking stunned. “Did it work?” she asked.

“Four minutes after he died we injected him with the serum and a couple minutes later his heart was beating and he was breathing again,” McCoy said. “The Doctor had a device that treated him like he was in his own cryotube and we used that until we got the serum into him.”

“Thank God,” Molly said as relief swept over her. “Khan said it would take some time to heal the damage.”

McCoy nodded. “I'd thought that might be the case. Doctor, the setting the device is on now is going to keep him in something like a cryogenic state? Where it won't matter if I couldn't figure out where he was bleeding out from?”

He nodded. “Yes. Strax has used that setting before. It will keep him in that state until his body is completely healed. Once he's healed enough it will turn itself off and he can wake up.” He looked around. “Where are we taking him?”

“My home,” Molly replied. “He's been there before, and...”

“And he's your friend,” the Doctor replied gently. She nodded. “Very well. Let me make sure the device is steady and then we'll take him on the TARDIS and get him to your home. Can we access your home from behind?”

“Yes, in the alley,” she said.

“Then that's where I'll land.” He went over and adjusted a device sitting on Sherlock's chest. “Can we take the table in until we can get him to your home? Then I can get it cleaned off and back before anyone realizes what happened.”

“Yes. Thank you, Doctor.” The Doctor and McCoy began to move the table to the TARDIS doors and after a moment they got it inside. Everyone else followed and then Kirk shut the doors behind him. The Doctor went to the console and piloted the TARDIS to Molly's home before looking at the table. “What room does this open into?”

“The part I don't rent out,” she said. “Can we carry him up stairs?”

“It's easiest if only one person carried him,” the Doctor said with a frown.

“Khan is home,” she replied. “I'm sure by now he knows we're here.”

“Good. He's strong enough to carry him in.” Molly and the Doctor went to the doors and opened them and saw the door to the alleyway open and Khan standing there. The Doctor went up to him. “I need you to very carefully carry Sherlock in. The device on his chest can't fall off or else it will stop working.”

Khan nodded. “Very well.” He moved over to the TARDIS and looked inside before turning back to Molly. “Molly, if he stays down here we don't need to move him up the stairs. You have a bed down in the bedroom, correct?”

She nodded. “It's not very comfortable, though. It's hard as a rock.”

“We can lay down quilts and duvets as padding for now,” he replied. “And then when he awakens we can move him upstairs.”

“Then I'll start grabbing them,” she replied. She dashed into her home and went up to her part of the home and then up the stairs to her linen closet. She pulled down the box of quilts she had stored and then two thick duvets. She hoped that would be enough padding. She began hauling it down the stairs and laying them on the bed, leaving one to put over Sherlock. When she was done she went back out into the alley. “It's ready.”

“I'll go get him then,” Khan replied with a nod before going into the TARDIS. He was gone for a few minutes, but when he came out he was carrying Sherlock and appeared to be doing so quite easily. Molly moved out of his way and he entered their home. She went back inside after him, and she could hear at least one other person come in behind her. She had left the door to the bedroom open and Khan went inside, getting close to the bed before setting Sherlock on it. Once he straightened back up both the Doctor and McCoy came into the room. “What do we need to do now?” he asked.

The Doctor checked the device. “There isn't anything to do other than wait,” he replied when he was done. “That serum brought him back to life, and this device will let him heal and then gradually bring him back when he's finished healing. It's tuned to his body at the moment, so it will know when it's safe to go from cryogenic sleep to medically induced coma.”

There was a look of distaste on Khan's face at the mention of cryogenic sleep, but it passed quickly. “Can you take Molly and I back to the hospital so we can appear to leave together? It would raise less questions that way.”

“His coat is still there,” McCoy said. “But you need to change shirts. You have a black T-shirt, right?”

Khan nodded. “I'll go upstairs and change.” He turned and left the room at that point.

McCoy looked up at Molly. “I'll keep an eye on him. You and Khan need to act like there's nothing different here if you don't want to raise suspicion, but I know you're going to worry. I can monitor him while you're gone.”

“Thank you, Leonard,” she said with a faint smile. She kept staring at Sherlock, and after a moment she moved over to the bed and reached over to touch him. “He feels so cold.”

“It's the device. Once it moves him into a comatose state he'll start to warm up,” the Doctor said. “At that point he'll start breathing more on his own, and as soon as he's healed it will pull him out of that state. He'll be very weak, though. Death itself is hard for a body to handle, but then cryogenic sleep and a coma are going to tax him even more. But he'll be fine soon. Probably sooner because of the serum.”

She nodded, not turning away from Sherlock. After a few minutes she brushed his hair out of his face and then turned back to the Doctor. “Khan's going to take his place, I think, if Mycroft agreed to it.”

“I'll help however I can,” he said with a nod. “I was already helping Sherlock. I imagine Khan will want to finish this business as quickly as possible, and he'll be more willing to have me help more often.”

“Sherlock didn't ask for your help?” she asked, surprised.

“He had, mostly in traveling from one place to another. But that was all. I can do much more if I need to. I don't like that there are people who mean to do you and the rest of Sherlock's friends harm. If I can help take care of the threat I will.” He moved over towards her. “If he does have to leave I'll do my best to make sure he's not gone for a very long time.”

“Thank you,” she said, and after a moment the Doctor embraced her. She embraced him back for a long while until she heard footsteps coming up to the bedroom. She pulled away and looked at Khan. “Are you ready to go?”

He nodded. “How much longer did you have of your shift?”

“An hour,” she replied.

“I'll stay with you in the morgue and help clean up whatever mess Sherlock made and then we can come home. Until I have to leave I don't feel like being too far away from you, at least until I'm absolutely sure no one is going to make an attempt to take you against your will.”

She nodded and moved over towards him. “All right.”

“I'll stay here with Sherlock until he's okay. You have a guest bedroom I can crash in if I need to?” McCoy asked.

“Yes, upstairs,” she replied, turning towards McCoy.

“You can show me when you get back,” he said.

“Feel free to make use of my kitchen if you need to,” she said before turning back to Khan. She reached over for his hand. They were not the type of couple who were into public displays of affection, and it was very rare for him to even hold her hand in public. But he grasped it tightly before the two of them left the room with the Doctor behind them. They stayed quiet as they made their way back outside to the alley, and soon the boarded the TARDIS. The Doctor went back to the console and piloted them back to where she worked right after they had left. The Doctor pushed the table back out and Khan and Molly stepped out after him. She looked around, taking in the blood and the general disarray. “I...” she began.

“We can clean and sterilize everything,” Khan said. “Is there a janitorial supply closet on this floor?”

“Yes. First door on the right, down the hall.”

“Go in your office. We'll take care of this.”

She nodded and squeezed his hand one last time before letting go. She headed into her office and shut the door behind her. She sat down in her chair, looking at her paperwork, when suddenly she began to cry. She covered her mouth with her hands and chastised herself for crying. She had no reason to. Sherlock was alive, and he was on the mend. It had ended well. But this was all too much. She tried to be as quiet as she could, but within moments the office door opened again and Khan was standing there, slightly unsure of what to do. She got up and moved towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist while she sobbed into his chest. After a moment she felt him bring his hand up and smooth her hair back. They stayed like that for what felt like a long time before she pulled away slightly and looked up. “God, you must think I'm pathetic,” she said.

“I do not think you're pathetic,” he replied quietly. “I never have before, and this would not have convinced me to change my mind. I'm just surprised I was able to comfort you. It's not something I've really had to do before.”

She moved close to him again. “You did exactly what I needed you to do,” she said as she rested her cheek on his chest. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.” He held her close for a few more minutes. “I should get back there to help them,” he said finally.

“I know,” she said, letting go of him. “And I should be helping as well, not being in here.”

“We can handle it on our own,” he replied. “What do you need to do before you can leave?”

“I can finish the reports tomorrow,” she replied. “I don't even think I'd be able to concentrate on them right now.”

“Would it be all right if you left early?”

She nodded. “Yes. I can say I felt ill if I'm asked.”

“Then we'll finish up out there and we can go home.” He tipped her face up to look at him. “But that means I need to leave first.”

“I know.” She moved closer to kiss him softly. He kept the kiss light and soon she pulled away. “Go help them. I'll be fine now.”

“All right,” he said with a slight nod. He pulled away from her and she watched him leave her office and shut the door behind him. She stared at the door for a few minutes before sitting down again. Everything was going to change now, everything she had gotten used to was going to be uprooted and it simply wasn't going to be the same. She didn't know if it was going to ever be close to the same after all of this was over and Moriarty's great game was finally finished. She just hoped she could handle it because deep down she was terrified she wouldn't be able and people would be hurt, and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happened.


End file.
